Brooder for chicks.



F. W. HAMMER:

BROODER FOR CHICKS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 30, 1912.

Patented Feb. 3, 1914.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

COLUMBIAPLAI'OGIIPH C0,,WASHING'NN, D: f3v

F. W. HAMMER. BROODER FOR CHICKS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 30, 1912.

1,086,045, Patented Feb. 3, 1914.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

FREDERICK W. HAMMER, 0F YALE, ILLINOIS.

BROODER FOR CHICKS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 3,1914.

Application filed March 30, 1912. Serial No. 687,553.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FREDERICK WV. HAM- MER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Yale, in the county of Jasper and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Brooders for Chicks, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to'improvements in apparatus for controlling chicks.

The object of the invention is to provide apparatus for controlling chicks by light and thus be able to house them without employing confining walls.

The great trouble with all tireless brooders has been to get the chickens to enter the hover and remain nestled together therein. It is well known that chickens naturally seek the light and hence by lighting the hover and darkening the other parts of the brooder it has been found that they will assemble in the hover without being driven there by an attendant and will remain without any means being employed for retaining them there other than the light.

With these objects in view apparatus has been devised in'which light is admitted to the center of the sleeping room of the chicks and this room is at all times the lightest place in the brooder, means being provided for darkening the other portions of the brooder, such as the exercise and feed rooms and thus causing the chicks to assemble in the lighter hover chamber.

WVith these and other objects in view the invention consists of certain novel features of construction, and the combination and arrangements of parts as will be more fully described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings: Figure 1 represents a top plan view with parts broken out of a brooder constructed in accordance with this invention; Fig. 2 is a transverse section thereof taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section taken on the line 33 of Fig. 1.

In the embodiment illustrated a brooder 1 is shown having a hover or sleeping chamber 2, an exercising room 3 and a feed room 4. The exercise and feed rooms 3 and 4 have wire netting 5 over their upper ends, similar netting also forming a portion of the partitions 6 and 7 which separate these rooms from the hover or sleeping compartment (see Fig. 3). Doors 8 and 9 are arranged in the lower portions of these partitions and are normally open to permit the chicks to pass into and out of the hover as desired. Hinged imperforate covers 10 and 11 composed of a light excluding material are adapted to be closed over the screen tops of the exercise and feed rooms to protect these rooms against the weather and also to shut out the light from said rooms when desired. The sleeping room 2 has a cover composed partly of glass 12 and partly of screen wire 13 through which light and air are admitted to the interior of the chamber 2. A removable auxiliary protecting cover 1a may be provided if desired and it is here shown slanting toward one side of the brooder and spaced a suitable distance above the transparent top of the chamber 2 to permit the unobstructed passage of light to said chamber. The lower end of said cover 1% is shown overlapping an upright imperforate wall 15. This cover 14 may be removed when desired to admit more light to the hover chamber. The sides of this cover 14: have inclined flanges 16 for shedding water and snow.

A curtain 17 is suspended from the top of the chamber 2 preferably on an annular support 18 connected with flexible raising and lowering elements .19 herein shown in the form of chains. These chains pass over suitable pulleys (not shown) for facilitating the raising andlowering of the curtain to prevent the light admitted through the glass 12 from entering the chambers 3 and at through the screen wire portions of the partitions 6 and 7 An annular horizontal partition 20 is arranged midway of the hover of the chamber 2 and has a transparent central portion 21 for the passage of light to the sleeping nest or bed 22 for the chicks which is shown disposed in the center of the hover and which preferably consists of a sheet metal pan to retain a suitable quantity of litter or the like, and an upright member here shown as a cone-shaped projection 22. The latter is preferably disposed centrally beneath the central light admitting opening in the top of frame 20 so that it not only servesto prevent the chicks from crowding and piling upon each other but also to deflect the light admitted through the top of the hover as will be readily understood 011 referring to Fig. 3 of the drawing. An annular cushion 23 is supported onthis partition 20 and is designed to be positioned to come in contact with the backs of the chicks to provide an artificial mother to assist in keeping the chicks warm.

In the operation of the brooder herein shown when it is desired to house the chicks in the hover 2 the top let is removed, the curtain l7 raised as shown in Fig. 3 and the doors 8 and 9 opened. The doors 10 and 11 are also closed and darkness will then prevail in the rooms 3 and 4 while light will stream through the cover 12 and partition 21 onto the nest 22 and the chicks will be attracted thereby and will assemble in the nest 22 under the light and nestle together there away from the darkness of the other chambers and will remain in said lighted chamber as long as the above described conditions prevail. In the morning or at any other time the covers 10 and 11 and the doors 8 and 9 are opened and the curtain lowered to the position shown in Fig. 2 which will admit light to the feeding and exercise rooms and cause the chicks to seatter and spread out into these rooms. If it is desired to keep them from again entering the hover the hover may be darkened by covering the transparent partition 21 and thus rendering it unattractive to the chicks.

It will be understood from the foregoing and on reference to the drawings that the gist of my invention consists in providing a tireless brooder containing a hover chamher having a hover or nesting place where the chicks sleep and go to be warm and in providing means whereby the light entering through the opening in the top of the brooder may be controlled to prevent it from entering any part but the hover. This method of controlling the chicks greatly lessens the labor of the attendant since the chicks will not have to be handled and placed in the hover at night or whenever it is desired to assemble them under the hover for warming and resting them. All the attendant is required to do is to raise the curtain l7 and the chicks will then of their own accord assemble under the hover where they will be kept Warm by their bodily heat. The provision of an upright member or cone 22 prevents the chicks from piling upon each other in the center of the hover where there is the greatest amount of light and it further serves as a reflector to spread light throughout the space beneath the hover.

While I have described my invention with more or less minuteness as regards details and as being embodied in certain precise forms, I do not desire to be limited thereto undulv any more than is pointed out in the claims. On the contrary, I contemplate all proper changes in form construction and arrangement, the omission of immaterial elements and substitution of equivalents as circumstances may suggest or render expedient.

I claim as my invention;

1. In a brooder, a hover chamber having a hover therein suspended above the bottom of said chamber, means for admitting light to said chamber under said hover, and means for darkening the surrounding territory.

2. A brooder comprising a body, a hover arranged in the body and having a light admitting opening, and means for shutting out the light from the space in the brooder outside of the hover.

3. A brooder having a light admitting top, a hover arranged in the brooder below said top and having a light opening therein, and means between the top of the brooder and hover for shutting out the light entering through said top of the brooder from the space in the brooder outside said hover.

4. A brooder having a light admitting top, a hover arranged below said top and having a light opening therein, and a flexible folding curtain arranged between the top of the brooder and the hover for shutting out the light entering through said top of the brooder from the space outside said hover.

5. A brooder having a lightadmitting top, a hover suspended below said top and spaced therefrom and having a light opening in its top, a curtain carried by said hover, and means for raising said curtain to prevent the light entering through the top of the brooder from entering the space in the brooder outside the hover.

6. A brooder comprising a body having a top with a light admitting opening, a hover arranged in the brooder beneath the opening in its .top, said hover having a central light admitting opening in its top, and a movable device arranged between the top of the hover and the top of the brooder to prevent the light entering the opening in the brooder top from passing into the space in the brooder outside of the hover.

7. A brooder comprising a body having a top with a light admitting opening, a hover arranged in the brooder beneath said opening, said hover having a central light admitting opening in its top, an adjustable device arranged between the top of the hover and the top of the brooder to prevent the light which enters the opening in the brooder top from passing into the space in the brooder outside of the hover, and an upright member on the bottom of the hover chamber and beneath said opening to spread the light admitted to the hover and prevent the chicks from piling upon each other.

8. A brooder comprising a body having a top with a light admitting opening, a hover arranged in the brooder beneath said opening, said hover having a central light admitting opening in its top, an adjustable de vice arranged between the top of the hover and the top of the brooder to prevent the light which enters the opening in the brooder top from passing into the space in the brooder outside of the hover, a nesting pan beneath the hover to contain litter, and a cone-shaped member arranged on the pan beneath said light opening to spread the light admitted to the hover and prevent the chicks from piling upon each other.

9. A brooder having a hover therein, said hover having a central light admitting opening in its top, and a cone-shaped member in the hover beneath the opening in its top for spreading the light admitted to the hover through said opening and preventing the chicks from crowding upon each other.

10. In a brooder, a brooder chamber having a light admitting top, an annular curtain support mounted below said top, a curtain secured to said support, means for raising and lowering said support, and a hover arranged below said top and having an opening therein for the passage of light.

11. A brooder having a hover chamber with a light admitting top, feed and exercise chambers arranged adjacent said hover chamber, and means for darkening said exercise and feed chambers.

12. A brooder having a brooder chamber with a light admitting top, a hover mounted therein and having means under the control of the operator for excluding light from the territory adjacent the hover, and a central opening in said hover for admitting light therethrough.

13. A brooder, having a hover chamber and feed and exercise chambers arranged adjacent to said hover chamber, a vertically adjustable hover mounted in said hover chamber and having means for excluding light from said feed and exercise chambers,

said hover having a central opening for the passage of light therethrough. I

FREDERICK W. HAMMER. Witnesses:

J. L. FORESTER, S. O. HUDDLESTUN.

Gopiel of thin patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0. 

